After student vote fails, fate of UNO sports grim

Published: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 12:09 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 12:09 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS — Students at the University of New Orleans have voted down a proposed increase in activity fees meant to ensure the school could continue to have Division I sports.

The result of the three-day online student vote, which concluded at midnight Thursday, means the fate of UNO's teams are now in the hands of state lawmakers.

The Legislature is weighing painful budget cuts all across Louisiana's public universities.

A university spokesman said nearly 2,700 students voted on the proposed $8 per semester hour fee increase, which failed by about 150 votes.

The vote comes at the end of the same academic year in which the university reopened its nearly 9,000-seat Lakefront Arena, which needed about $26 million in repairs following Hurricane Katrina. However, crowds for basketball games at the refurbished stadium were sparse this season, with many games played before fewer than 2,000 fans.

The university's teams play the Sun Belt Conference. The baseball team has qualified for the NCAA tournament the past two seasons. In 1984, UNO fielded the first baseball team from Louisiana ever to appear in the College World Series.

The basketball squad also had a pair of NCAA tournament appearances in the early 1990s under former coach Tim Floyd, now at Southern California.

The university currently is in the fourth year of a five-year waiver, granted by the NCAA after Hurricane Katrina, which allows it to retain Division I status without having the mandated minimum 14 teams.

UNO currently has nine teams: men's and women's basketball; men's and women's swimming and diving; men's and women's tennis; baseball; men's golf; and women's volleyball. There are plans to add women's golf, women's softball, women's soccer and men's and women's cross-country. That would bring the number of teams to 15, the minimum required for continued membership in the Sun Belt Conference.

Student fees currently account for around 40 percent of the athletic department's $4.5 million budget.

However, because state universities were asked by Gov. Bobby Jindal to make major spending reductions, UNO plans to cut $1.4 million from sports. University administrators hoped to make up the difference by nearly doubling student fees for athletics, which would have been capped at $195 per year had the measure passed.

<p>NEW ORLEANS  Students at the University of New Orleans have voted down a proposed increase in activity fees meant to ensure the school could continue to have Division I sports.</p><p>The result of the three-day online student vote, which concluded at midnight Thursday, means the fate of UNO's teams are now in the hands of state lawmakers.</p><p>The Legislature is weighing painful budget cuts all across Louisiana's public universities.</p><p>A university spokesman said nearly 2,700 students voted on the proposed $8 per semester hour fee increase, which failed by about 150 votes.</p><p>The vote comes at the end of the same academic year in which the university reopened its nearly 9,000-seat Lakefront Arena, which needed about $26 million in repairs following Hurricane Katrina. However, crowds for basketball games at the refurbished stadium were sparse this season, with many games played before fewer than 2,000 fans.</p><p>The university's teams play the Sun Belt Conference. The baseball team has qualified for the NCAA tournament the past two seasons. In 1984, UNO fielded the first baseball team from Louisiana ever to appear in the College World Series.</p><p>The basketball squad also had a pair of NCAA tournament appearances in the early 1990s under former coach Tim Floyd, now at Southern California.</p><p>The university currently is in the fourth year of a five-year waiver, granted by the NCAA after Hurricane Katrina, which allows it to retain Division I status without having the mandated minimum 14 teams.</p><p>UNO currently has nine teams: men's and women's basketball; men's and women's swimming and diving; men's and women's tennis; baseball; men's golf; and women's volleyball. There are plans to add women's golf, women's softball, women's soccer and men's and women's cross-country. That would bring the number of teams to 15, the minimum required for continued membership in the Sun Belt Conference.</p><p>Student fees currently account for around 40 percent of the athletic department's $4.5 million budget.</p><p>However, because state universities were asked by Gov. Bobby Jindal to make major spending reductions, UNO plans to cut $1.4 million from sports. University administrators hoped to make up the difference by nearly doubling student fees for athletics, which would have been capped at $195 per year had the measure passed.</p>